Virgin Mobile tries again to enter the Russian market

Virgin head Richard Branson descends the facade of the Virgin Megastore building on Paris' Champs Elysees. Source: Reuters / Vostock-Photo.

British entrepreneur Richard Branson is once again planning to launch his Virgin Mobile business in Russia.

The announcement of a possible entrance
for Virgin Mobile into the Russian market was made at the opening of the
operator’s division in Poland. A source at one of Russia’s telecommunications
operators anonymously disclosed that Virgin Mobile is intending to build a LTE
network in the 3.5 GHz frequency range, but offered no details as to how Virgin
has gained access to a frequency source.

Another source claims that the
possibility of collaboration between Virgin and the Russian subsidiary of
Swedish-owned Tele2 is not out of the question. Tele2, which is currently
searching for a partner, declined to comment on “rumors regarding any
negotiations with Virgin.” Tele2 did, however, admit that “the Russian market
has long reached its point of saturation: the level of cellular communication
penetration in Russia (159%) is above Europe’s average (128%). Any entrance and
development of a new player can only be done through redistribution of the
subscriber base of the current players.”

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This will not be the first attempt from
Virgin Mobile to enter the Russian market. Four years ago, Trivon Networks,
which is a Russian company and a member of Branson’s Virgin family (Virgin
Connect brand), obtained access to the 5.6 GHz frequency range. The company was
going to provide its WiMAX services in the range, but ended up launching them
only in a few regions.

On Monday, several job advertisements
were put up on the HeadHunter recruiting website, offering positions at Trivon
Networks. In particular, the company is looking to recruit a Director General
for its business unit in Russia. The description states that the Director’s
responsibilities will include development planning for the BU, development of
its business plan and budget within the strategy of the Group, and “ensuring
the active development of the BU in advance of the growth rate of the market
and competitors”.

Today Virgin Mobile has about 20 million users around the world. The
company has divisions in Australia, the US, South Africa and Canada. As well, Branson’s
company is only the third global operator to enter the Polish market, after
T-mobile (subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom) and Orange (subsidiary of France
Telecom). Most recently, the company’s services have become available in South
America since April of this year. According to a Virgin
Mobile representative, the operator is also interested in Turkish and Hungarian
markets, aside from the market in Russia.